The Legacy
by LoricFool
Summary: Number Three's scar appears and Four and Henri move on from the Key Islands. A mysterious dream-message starts plaguing the minds of certain individuals, as the Loric make their way west. *Contains all the main characters from both series*
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** I know, I know I have other stories that I really need to work on. However I haven't been in a Harry Potter mood for a while, and this happened. So I'm going to stick with this for as long as my current obsession holds out, knowing I will at some point get back to my other fics. There is no question of whether they will be finished, just a question of _when._ Enjoy! Or don't, or whatever. Reviews are nice. Starts at the start of IAN4 and book 4 'The Message' of Animorphs.

Some dialogue taken from _I Am Number Four_ and _The Message._

 _ **John**_

It's been two days since we left Florida. I've forced Henri to pull over for the night, to get some sleep. He's hardly rested since we got in the truck and left our identities behind us again. Now I'm John, not Daniel. Smith, not Jones. But under it all, I'm still Four.

The Atlas in the front seat, one of the only constant things we keep with us through our journeys, has a new line in it, drawn from the Key Islands to the Californian coast. There are other lines, crisscrossing all around the states, marking the places we've been in the ten years we've been on Earth.

I am Number Four. An alien, part of the last few Loric refugees that managed to escape an invading Mogadorian force on Lorien. Only eighteen of us made it off the planet alive; nine Garde and nine Cépan. I'm a member of the Garde, and Henri is my Cépan, my keeper and guardian and teacher. We are in hiding, running from the Mogadorians that still seek us out, in order. When they find us, they will kill us. I know that because they've killed One and Two. And they killed Three, two days ago.

I am Number Four. I am next.

So Henri and I are on high alert. We were gone, packed up and leaving only hours after I got the scar that signalled Three's murder. We managed to pack most of our stuff, and so Henri has all of his software for creating our new documents. He's been doing that during our periodic breaks for food and fuel, but we don't normally stop for more than an hour.

Henri emerges from the reception office and gets back in the car, driving us the short distance to our assigned cabin. I close the atlas and return it to its place, glancing at my Cépan. He's exhausted, but I've seen him in worse states. Barely. I'm very glad he agreed to stop for the night.

"You alright, kiddo?" Henri asks through a stiffled yawn, stepping out of the truck. I follow his lead and get out too, throwing my backpack over a shoulder.

"Yeah. I would appreciate a good bit of exercise though," I reply as I stretch my legs out, blinking back a bit of drowsiness. Henri makes a noise in agreement as he unlocks the cabin. We throw our backpacks, which contain some food and clean clothes, on the beds. Henri disappears into the bathroom for a shower, and I sort through our packs for something suitable for dinner.

By the time Henri emerges, slightly cleaner, I've got sachet macaroni cheese on the stove. It's not that great compared to the homemade stuff, but it's still good enough for the road. It's one of the few things Henri will happily applaude Earth for, when taken in contrast to Lorien. It's been a lot harder for him, being here. I can't really remember Lorien, being only three when we left. Henri was almost forty.

"So what's in California?" I ask as I attack a stubborn lump in the sauce.

"I've heard the Cali girls are quite nice. The City of Angels. Some good beaches, a bit of desert. There's even rumours we might find the sun," Henri replies with a bit of cheek, ignoring the true meaning of my words.

"Funny. But we don't usually set off across the entire continent when we move. So what's with the change?" The lump has succumbed to my stirring. I give the macaroni a last few good stirs then turn the stove off.

"With you being next, I want to make sure that we've got the advantage at the moment. If they had any clues that we were in Florida, or of our previous locations, the Mogs would start by looking at the closer states because of our previous travel patterns. Also, it was the first real estate agency I found that still had a vacancy and would accept us on the short notice," he replies, humour gone. "How's that macaroni going then?"

I offer him a bowl and we sit on our beds as we eat. We're sitting in silence, too tired to make conversation, and when we're finished I wash up the dishes. By the time I'm done, Henri's asleep. I follow his example and fall asleep pretty quickly.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Sorry for all the 'Mericans whose ayes are hurting at the Aussie/Brit spelling. Onwards!

It's Tuesday, four days after we began our road trip. We've just crossed the Californian border, which promises our soon arrival. Relatively speaking.

I run my fingers over the three scars on my ankle; two old ones, and the newer, still slightly tender scar from Number Three's death. I try not to think about that too much, about how the only thing left of the other numbers is a scar burned into the flesh of my ankle. I try not to think about how someday that might be all that's left of me; another scar on the ankles of the surviving Garde.

I pull my sock up to cover them from prying eyes and hide them from my fingers. I pull out my video games but soon grow bored of playing them, having beaten most of them already throughout the journey. The advantages of having superhuman reflexes, I guess.

At some point I drift off to sleep. And suddenly I'm over the ocean, racing along and yet not moving. There's a feeling of urgency, almost like there's something in the water calling to me. Then suddenly I'm plummeting into the water and jerking awake with a gasp beside Henri, safe and dry in the truck.

Apparently my awakening startled Henri a bit, and the truck does a little wobble on the road before continuing on its previous course. Henri reaches out a hand and puts it on my shoulder, sparing me a concerned glance.

"You alright John?"

"Yeah...yeah. Just a...weird dream." But as I catch my breath, I don't quite believe it. Something just felt a bit...off. As though it wasn't entirely a dream.

Looking out the window, I can see the sea occasionally through the landscape as we drive parallel to the shoreline.

"We'll be there in about half an hour," Henri tells me as the number of houses begin to increase.

Getting into the centre of town, it's large by our standards. Huge actually, and makes me wonder whether Henri's reasoning was entirely truthful for this move or whether this is still just us making a change in our pattern.

Henri points out the school as we pass it, and a short while later the houses are thinning again and ceding to farmland and forest.

"Did you get a farm or something?" I ask Henri with amusement. The look he sends me in response is a little bit too innocent.

"Don't worry. It didn't come with livestock."

Five minutes later as Henri pulls the truck into a long driveway, I discover that our new property is not, in fact, a farm. It's a single storey house well surrounded by dense wood, backed onto the foot of the mountains that border the eastern side of town. The yard surrounding the building is a large clearing, covered in patchy grass and weeds.

We park beside a black SUV and a woman steps out of the driver's side.

"Who's that?" I ask Henri as he turns the truck off.

"Estate agent, I'd imagine," he responds as he opens the door and hops out.

"Hi, Mr Smith? I'm Annie Hart. We spoke on the phone. I tried calling you, but your phone seemed to be off." The woman is dressed in neat black, with blonde hair. She is holding a clipboard as she speaks to Henri.

After Henri lies that his battery died, Mrs Hart shows us around the house. She asks me how old I am, and whether I'll be going to the local high school. She also tells me she has a daughter my age there that I should look out for. I tell her I will.

The house itself is in fairly good condition compared to some of the places we've stayed before. There's a few squeaky floorboards, some of the windows are cracked, and there is a strong musty smell inside, but that won't take us too long to fix up. The furniture left from the previous owners is in good shape beneath the dust-laden sheets and covers. Beside the kitchen is a set of stairs that lead down to a basement with a single flickering light.

"I like it," I say to Henri as we head for the door behind Mrs Hart.

"I would also give you a tour of the grounds, but there's far too much of it and honestly I think I'd get lost," Mrs Hart says, overhearing me and shooting me a smile.

"How much is 'too much'?" I ask incredulously.

"150 acres, give or take. Most of it is forest, but there are a few tracks and clearings in through all that." As she says this, she points out a skinny path leading into the forest just visible past the side of the house. Taking a quick walk up the side, I can see a few more paths like it leading away from the clearing, and two wider tracks that might permit a vehicle.

"John, come and say goodbye to Mrs Hart!" Henri calls from the front porch. I jog back around the house and join the two of them as they walk towards the cars. Henri hands back the clipboard and a pen and we say goodbye. Mrs Hart reminds me to look out for her daughter and we wave her off.

Henri sighs and runs a hand through his greying hair. He suddenly looks very tired.

"Henri, why don't you go and have a rest while I bring all our stuff in?"

"Are you sure?"

"Sure that I'm the one with the super strength who can make you lie down but also bring everything in, yes." He chuckles a little.

"Okay. But only for an hour. I need to set everything up. We won't have internet until tomorrow at least."


	3. Chapter 3

Despite Henri's intentions, I don't wake him up after an hour. I move all of our bags and boxes from the tray of the truck and sort them into the rooms they'll likely end up in. All the computers and cameras and other techie equipment go down in the basement, where Henri will set them up to monitor the news for anything potentially related to us.

The Loric Chest, which we take with us every time we move, goes into Henri's room along with his clothes and personal effects.

We've managed to bring a lot of stuff with us this time; on some of our more hurried moves, all we take is a laptop, the Chest and the clothes on our back.

I've chosen the bedroom close to the back door. It's across from the kitchen, which is also nice. There's a spare bedroom next to mine, though it's a lot smaller, and that's where I put all the spare bags I'm not quite sure about yet.

It's been nearly two and a half hours when I do wake Henri. He grumbles a bit about wasted time, but I ignore him. My time between unpacking and waking my guardian has been spent removing the covers from all the furniture and dusting the fluffy surfaces. The place looks a bit more homely now, but all the dust in the air is making me want to sneeze.

"Okay. I'm going to set up all the cameras. Have a think on whether you want to go to school tomorrow or not, because I'll print out your papers tonight."

"If I stay home would I be helping clean this place up?"

"Yes."

"I'll go to school."

"Don't stay up too late tonight then," Henri warns before carefully stacking the four cameras in his arms and walking out the door.

There is still about an hour before the sun starts setting, and I'm not in a mood to sleep. I've rested enough over the last four days. I decide to check out the rest of the property. Stepping out the back door, I close my eyes and turn circles on the spot. After a slow count to ten, I stop and open my eyes. Slightly to the left of where I'm facing is a thin trail leading into the forest, and I begin.

The woods become thicker the further I go from the house, though they're still not very thick. A few half-tracks and game trails cross the path I'm on, clear on the ground but not through the brush above. My path, which initially led uphill, takes a twist and starts heading downwards. About 100 yards ahead I can see a twisted wire fence, just as the woods recede and give way to farmland.

The path curves and continues along the fence line. At the corner, I stop and look out at the field. There's a couple of horses grazing in the paddock. I stay for about five minutes, just watching the big animals. A girl walks into the paddock and begins pumping water into the trough on the far side. She has dark skin and short-cropped hair, and is maybe my age. Part-way through, she stops and turns around, searching the woods with a frown on her face. When she sees nothing, she goes back to pumping.

I take two steps to continue along the path and suddenly she sees me. She appears to have finished filling the trough. Our eyes lock and suddenly I'm stumbling with a dizzy feeling. My eyes are almost seeing two images overlaying each other – the woods around me and the vast emptiness of the ocean surface. Along with it comes a desperation, a tugging and calling that I can't quite explain. Wordless, yet nearly not as suddenly I'm thrust beneath the waves and down deeper and deeper into the blue.

I take a deep gasp of air and I'm back in a single image, the woods around me. My hands are on my knees and my heart is pounding, I'm doubled over and very confused. That's the second time I've had that dream…vision thing today. Maybe it's my Legacies. I turn my head to look at the girl in the paddock, and she is likewise shaken, leaning heavily on the trough. She reaches down and splashed her face with the water she's just pumped out, sends me a quick glance before hurrying out of sight.

I look up to where the sun is making its slow way towards the horizon. I have maybe 45 minutes until dark. I try to put my uneasiness behind me as I continue up the track, but unlike this morning, it won't shake. I can't focus much on the track or my surroundings, so I just turn around and head back to the house.

I find Henri in the basement with the computers all set up and turned on. One screen is showing a live feed from the four cameras he's placed around the house.

"Hey, kiddo," he says as I clomp down the stairway.

"Hey…something weird just happened." Henri quickly turns all the way around and focusses all his attention on me.

"Weird how?"

"I went for a walk along one of the tracks out there, and I think I found the neighbour's property. There were a few horses, but…I saw a girl there, and when our eyes met, something strange happened." Henri's got this stupid grin on his face and though he's not voicing it, I can see the laughter behind his eyes. "It's not like that! Something _else_ happened. You know earlier today when we were in the car and I had a strange dream? I got dizzy and had the _exact same dream_ when she saw me. And she got dizzy, too."

Henri's teasing look has morphed into a concerned, puzzled one.

"Tell me exactly what happened in this dream," he says, all amusement gone. I recount it as best I can, at the end asking, "Is this my first Legacy?"

Henri's frown keeps growing deeper, and he shakes his head slowly. "Not any Legacy that I've heard of. Prophetic dreams, maybe, but what you're experiencing isn't really prophetic. Not to mention that you weren't the only one dizzy, and that your second instance was while you were awake."

"So what should I do?"

"Go to school tomorrow. Call me and come home immediately if anything else happens. Do you feel okay otherwise?"

"Perfectly fine," I respond.

"Well, get some good rest tonight. Which means I want you in bed now. I'll see you tomorrow," he finishes with a stern glance.


End file.
